Last weekend we made the familiar 10 hour drive south.  Since my husband and I wouldn’t see my uncle until the next day and there were no motel rooms available anyway, we drove the extra hour into San Francisco.

That choice gave us dinner at a favorite restaurant, and an unseasonably affordable, beautiful hotel room in Union Square.

From our 9th floor location, I couldn’t resist this shot of the narrow stairwell.

I imagined all the feet that climbed here a century ago.

I felt the presence of my grandmother and even her mother.  Both would have recognized this very building in the city that was home to several generations of us.

I thought about the narrow band of time each of us is given to use on this earth.  Some squander their gift.  Some choose the safe, quiet and, I suspect, unfulfilled path.  Still others dare to risk – –  to deeply love, to make mistakes, to give extravagantly and to make their narrow band a better place.

My uncle is one of the latter.

I’ve thought about him all week, his grave medical prognosis and the impact his life has had.  He joined our family through marriage when I was grown with children of my own.  Yet his connection and influence feels more like a lifetime.

I’m thankful for his example.

I’m blessed to be part of his narrow band of time.

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